Some inmates at the Lake County Jail may have jobs lined up for them after they get out.
- Inmates take up sewing in new program
- 10 female inmates work in the sewing room
- The women make inmate uniforms
Currently 10 female inmates are part of a worker program called Sewing Textile and Patterns.
From 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. every Monday through Friday, the inmates work in the sewing room at the Lake County Jail in Tavares.
Mallory Cooper has been in jail for about four months.
She said she decided to join the new program to get days off of her sentence.
"That's how it started was just to get days off but now I do it to learn a trade that I can take outside," said Cooper.
A trade that's also saving the jail money.
The women are making inmate uniforms for $5, instead of the $15 jail officials say they were paying.
They are also laser etching employee plaques for $25 instead of ordering them for over $115.
Sheriff Peyton Grinnell said he started the program so that jail employees could have their uniforms pressed for free.
"I thought of this idea because I saw an employee that had a wrinkled uniform," said Grinnell. "It manifested into a sewing and a seamstress program for our female inmates and we're very excited about it."
Grinnell says some dry cleaner owners may hire the women when they are released.
The money for the machines in the program came from the inmate commissary revenue account.